Dr. Murray Feingold: The politics of eating healthy

Public figures like politicians need to be aware that what they say and do in public may have an effect on the health habits and behavior of many Americans.

By Dr. Murray Feingold

The Times

By Dr. Murray Feingold

Posted Jun. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 7, 2012 at 7:17 AM

By Dr. Murray Feingold

Posted Jun. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 7, 2012 at 7:17 AM

Public figures like politicians need to be aware that what they say and do in public may have an effect on the health habits and behavior of many Americans.

Presidents are particularly guilty of inadvertently sending the wrong health message to their constituents. Our president is no exception. So much so that some of his actions have prompted the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to request that he “issues an executive order banning stage photo opportunities that show the president, the first family, the vice president and members of the president’s cabinet eating unhealthy foods.”

What prompted this request were pictures of President Obama eating a hot dog at a basketball game and a cheeseburger at a restaurant.

But he certainly is not the first president who has been seen eating unhealthy foods in public. Doing so seems to be part of a president's persona, like kissing babies.

President Barack Obama’s predecessors were equally guilty, including President Clinton who, while out jogging, would stop to eat a burger. Apparently, such dietary indiscretions have ceased since he required bypass surgery.

A president’s political party doesn’t make any difference — all are guilty, both Republicans and Democrats.

One could argue that eating hamburgers and hot dogs are part of Americana, so why shouldn’t presidents take part in this culinary activity? However, the Physician’s Committee believes eating such foods kills more Americans than tobacco. Therefore, as role models, presidents have the responsibility to consume healthy foods in public.

Politicians also have to be sensitive about what they say concerning health matters in which they are not experts. Some months ago, a presidential candidate mentioned that the daughter of one of her supporters developed mental retardation after receiving the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine.

Health professionals were concerned that such unproven claims made by public figures could increase the number of parents who would not immunize their children with the HPV vaccine. Being infected with the HPV is the cause of almost all cases of cervical cancer, about 65 percent of vaginal cancers and about 50 percent of vulvar cancers. It is also associated with the increasing number of individuals who are afflicted with throat, tongue and tonsil cancers.

The HPV vaccine helps prevent people from getting this infection, thus decreasing their chances of developing the cancers that are associated with it.

My advice to all politicians, and other public figures: Remember what you say and do may have a deleterious affect on the health behavior of others. Take your responsibility very seriously.

Dr. Murray Feingold is the physician in chief of The Feingold Center for Children, medical editor of WBZ-TV and WBZ radio in Massachusetts, and president of the Genesis Fund. The Genesis Fund is a nonprofit organization that funds the care of children born with birth defects, mental retardation and genetic diseases.